Brave and Bold
by melodramatic cliches
Summary: She has cracks in her flawless life and when the cracks turn into breaks only will her best friend be there to comfort her as best as he possibly can. ZAYA. ONE SHOT.


**A/N: In case none of you know who Zig and Maya are, they are the upcoming grade nines in the next half of season eleven. Maya is Katie's little sister as well. But I have seen the photo shoot for season eleven and I already know there is a love triangle between Zig/Maya/Tori, but I already ship Zig/Maya more than Zig/Tori from the looks of it. So anyway! This little one shot, is something I can see Maya going through, it seems like a good plot line seeing as they haven't done this since season two and briefly in season ten. Please enjoy!  
>Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi or ZigMaya. Although I wish I did. Sigh.**

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><p>She was fragile.<p>

She shook, I shook.

She cried, I cried.

All I could do was gently rake my long fingers through her thick golden locks and massage her scalp to help her calm herself. She sobbed so hard and uncontrollably that her ribs shook inside of her and all I could was continue to massage her scalp in hopes that it'd calm her from her episode she would be terribly embarrassed of later.

"Z-Zig." She cried as she clutched onto my horribly ugly yellow polo, her nails digging deep into the fabric I was sure I heard the seams pop by the pressure. "Z-Zig." She cried out again as she weakly shook me to alert me of her cries for me.

"Yeah?" I answered as I held her closer to my chest and continued on my massaging of her scalp. She slowly began to calm down from her sobs, but I could still feel dampness on my polo from her tears. I was sure that when she left my embrace, I'd see black mascara stains wiped on the polo. I could already hear her whimpering apologies as she'd work herself into another crying frenzy.

"D-D-Do you have more ban-ban-ban-band aids?" She asked in a small voice, her blotchy face masked in redness from embarrassment by asking _me, _ her _best friend _for a band aid after she had taken it a bit too far tonight. I was lucky enough to have found her in her bedroom after forgetting my English textbook on her bed. If I was too late.. she would have been long gone from my arms by now.

She'd be in the morgue. Awaiting a funeral arrangement in the afterlife.

"Of course. Just wait right here, May." I said soothingly as I slowly unwound her arms from my torso which had some difficulty seeing as she had her arms in vices around my torso. She refused to let me go by her body language which left me dumbfounded as I sat on my bed, her head still on my chest and arms around my chest in a stance that said,

"_I'll never let go of you." _

I gulped as I thought of her ever uttering those words. But of course she wouldn't, she was _Maya Matlin. _

Maya Matlin has more fun discussing the reasons why the brain develops severe depression.

Maya Matlin has more fun showing off her new paintings to myself, Tori and Tristan.

Maya Matlin has more fun pulling fuzz's off her Degrassi cardigan than ever uttering those words to me.

"Uh.. Uhm Maya." I said slowly as I tried to lean out of the tight embrace Maya had encircled me into, but she only buried her head deeper into my chest - which caused pain to my ribcage- and wrap her arms tighter around my back. This wasn't going to get any better if she didn't let me go. But already I could tell, she was far from allowing me out of her death grip.

Maya didn't respond to me calling out her name, instead she began sobbing again and moving her head from my painful chest to my dry shoulder and continued her sobbing there. It didn't take too long before I felt dampness seep through the material from my polo. I could already hear my mother griping about how messy my polo looked and asking why it had happened. Which would add another lie on top of the heaping mountain of lies I have voiced to my mother.

"Maya." I said again as I placed my hands on her shoulder to steady her as I gently pulled her from my shoulder. She ducked her head, her long golden locks covering her tear stained face as she began whimpering and sniffling loudly. A few hiccups erupting from her lips as she tried her best to calm herself down from the sobbing, but it seemed so hard to her as I watched her try her best to be strong. But the thing about Maya was that.. as much as she tried to place this front up that she was alright being in Katie's shadow, that it was alright Katie had undergone a surgery on her knee and developed an addiction to their mother's pain medication, that it was alright her mother was suffering from Ovarian Cancer which had crumbled their family.

I had only know this, because not even an hour ago had Maya blubbered her severe problems to me as tears streamed down her face and she had immediately vomited after confessing her secret problems. Which explains why my room had the disgusting smell of digested bologna sandwich and chocolate milk.

I sighed heavily as I placed two long fingers underneath Maya's chin and gently lifted her face up to meet mine. I gasped as I saw mascara running long lines down her cheek bones, dipping under her chin and lacing her neck. Her face was blotchy and red from the heat of sobbing and her eyes were puffy and swollen from the extreme usage of them in the past hour and a half. I tried not to make it a disgusting matter, but Maya had been sobbing so hard, she had snot dripping from her nose. But instead of me inching away from her fragile self, I reached over for the box of Kleenex on my night stand and place the box on my lap as I plucked one from the seal and gently wiped her nose and face. All while keeping eye contact with her as she kept eye contact with me, she was obviously taken back from me taking care of her, but I wasn't going to let her sit here with mascara eyes and a runny nose. I take care of my best friends, whether it be Tori or Tristan. I take care of them.

_Especially Maya. _

"Alright, Maya." I said as I discarded the used Kleenex and looked back at her now makeup - less face, she still had a blotchy face and a red nose, but it was better than it had been before. She hiccuped three times in a row after I addressed her and I softly chuckled at the cuteness her hiccups brought on. I realize it was a inappropriate time to chuckle at the aftermath of her overwhelming cries. But perhaps a chuckle or two would brighten up her now blank face.

"Are you going to-" Maya began to say, but was interrupted by two hiccups before blushing and continuing, "Are you going to go get me some more bandages?" Maya asked as she held her left wrist in her right hand and nervously looked to side, still too embarrassed to have a glance at what she had caused to herself.

"Yeah, of course. Come on." I gestured as I felt Maya grasp onto my hand and interlock our fingers as we stepped off my bed and began exiting my filthy bedroom. I swallowed deeply as I felt Maya's bandages on her wrists brush against my bare wrists. It was a weird feeling to hold hands with Maya Matlin. Don't get me wrong, I love her. Hell, I'm _in _love with her. If I wasn't, I'd still be calling her a dork and wouldn't care about what had happened this night. But it was weird holding hands with the girl you had grown to love and tease constantly. I always felt like a school boy around her, having to make fun of her jelly bean sneakers or her striped backpack. Maya dressed differently than other girls at Degrassi and I suppose that drew me to her.

_She stood out from the crowd._

If I ever told her that, she wouldn't believe me. Maya has this strong belief that her older sister, Katie is the center of attention. Katie was Degrassi's student council President and had been the star athlete for most sports. Maya on the other hand was too shy and timid to ever think of running for President and could barely dribble a basketball, much less make a shot.

Yet Maya had stood out from the crowd to me. From her golden locks to her jelly bean sneakers, she was certainly one of a kind to me. Maybe that was why I fell in love with her all these months. Maybe that's why I'm so angry when I see her talking to another male, even if its Tristan! Despite that Tristan has made it clear that he is gayer than Clay Aiken and would never think of undressing Maya.

I sighed once more as I felt Maya squeeze my hand and lean onto my forearm as I led her into the bathroom where the first aid kid I had used earlier was still sitting on the edge of the sink, lid still popped open and band aid wrappers scattered on the white tiled floor.

Maya tentatively let go of my hand as she sat down on the toilet seat lead and held her left wrist in her right once more. I closed the door behind me and trifled through the first aid kit, looking for more band aids, but only finding bandage wrap. I held the white gauze in my hand and glanced down at Maya's torn wrist to see blood escaping the sides of the supposed heavy duty band aids.

"How long has it been bleeding like that, Maya?" I asked in a whisper as I knelt before her and placed a nervous hand on her knee. She bit her lip and tried to wipe away the blood seeping through the band aids on her wrist. But she still wasn't answering my question. If the cuts had been deeper than I thought they were.. I'd have to take her to the emergency room as much as she refused to go when I found her. I just needed to know how long they had been bleeding like that. It.. It wasn't normal.

"Maya." I said in a strong voice as she lifted her head and met my eyes. Her blue eyes were shining with tears that poured over her face as she began making choking sounds in the back of her throat, signaling another crying fit.

"For almost twenty minutes. I-I think I got some on your uniform." Maya cried as she tried to bat the blood off my yellow polo. But the polo was the least of my worries, my first one being the fragile girl before me whimpering apologies for blooding up my uniform. I wanted to assure her I had five other pairs in my closet, but at this rate she would only get more upset.

"Oh God, Maya. You should have said something!" I exclaimed nervously as I gently grabbed her wrist and began to peel the band aids off her wrist. I could faintly hear her apologies and hiccups as I gently tended to her wrist. Once the final band aid was peeled off and placed in the garbage can, I gasped as I saw the damage Maya had caused to her wrist. Or more importantly, her veins.

Six large slashes lined Maya's left wrist, the first cut was the deepest of them all and had punctured her vein as I saw a piece of her vein stick from her wrist. How had I not noticed that before I bandaged her up? Veins were meant to stay together, not apart and sticking from large slashes abnormally. This was not good. Not good at all. Her other slashes were bleeding and I knew I couldn't bandage them all without Maya getting stitches for her wounds or it'd take months for the wounds to finally heal.

I sighed and grabbed the nearest towel and pressed it against Maya's wrist as she hissed in pain at the feeling. I murmured an apology as I gently rubbed my hand against Maya's arm to keep her from heading into a crying frenzy. But I pulled myself from Maya and looked at her seriously in her tearful blue eyes and said,

"Listen Maya. I need to call 911, you've cut your vein and-" I began to say before Maya let out a wail and began sobbing once more I mentioned 911. She begged between her sobbing sounds and hiccups to bandage her wrists and not tell anyone of what I had seen. But I just.. I couldn't _do _that to Maya, not when she needed medical assistance before she.. bled out. The mere thought of her bleeding out on my bathroom floor put a horrible image in my brain that made me feel the need to vomit profusely.

"I'm calling 911." I told Maya as I saw blood had already began to seep through the towel she had been pressing against her six slashes on her inner arm. Maya only wailed louder and I was sure she'd throw herself on the ground and cause a temper tantrum. But she only cried and asked me not to tell her parents and Katie. Stating through her blubbers that they had Katie and their mother to worry about. That Maya herself was not nearly important as the others. Which sounded like absolute bullshit, I grabbed her hand and held it tightly as I held the phone to my ear and heard a very tired woman say,

"911, whats your emergency?"

I sighed and looked to Maya who had her head resting on my shoulder drowsily as she continued to compress the towel to her injuries she had caused this night. Maya needed me, but I could only do so much for her and now I had to hand that responsibility to the hospital and Maya's family. I knew she's kick and scream the moment the ambulances would come in and try to take her from me. I could almost hear her screams. Her upsetting screams that would make yourself cry if you heard them.

"Hello? Are you still there?" The 911 operator asked, sounding more alert now that she possibly had a big case on her shoulders. I could hear the sound of papers shuffling over the line. I looked back down at Maya who was hiccuping every twenty three seconds and whimpered as she compressed the rag harder to her wound. I swallowed and made a brave move, I swiftly pressed my lips to Maya's damp golden locks and spoke boldly,

"The girl I loved tried to kill herself. Get the fuck over here, _now_."

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><p><strong>AN: PLEASE REVIEW!**


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